Stressed About Solids!

My daughter is 15 months and would chokeon table food until she was a year old. I couldn't even give her the gerber snacks. She had 4 front teeth but did not grasp the concept of chewing. She would even choke on stage 3 food.

I jsut kept offering table food like scrambled eggs, fried eggs, rice, pasta (cut up small), diced and boiled carrots.

Then one day out of the blue she started eating them without choking. Now she eats anything and everything (except beef - I don't give her that yet).

Some kids just take longer. He is only 11 months. No big rush.

If he goes over a year and still has issues, talk to your pediatrician. For now, just let him go at his own pace.

I think sometimes we try to rush our kids.

Are you still nursing? If so, just continue feeding on demand and offering table foods. I suggest just giving him what you guys are eating to make it easier on you....ie bits of squished peas, fork mashed veggies like squash or carrots or sweet potatoes. Bananas, avocados, etc.

My son "tasted" till he was about 14 months. He just had no interest in eating much. I wouldn't worry about it. And he did start eating a lot more when he had a lot more teeth to chew.

There are people who believe in letting baby lead the way. Feeding themselves, playing with their food, etc.

There are no right answers , but I think if he's spitting them out or swallowing without "chewing", the foods are too advanced for him.

Deep breath! This is not something to stress over! He will eat what he can when he can. My son would not eat meat to save his life till he was almost 2. So we just worked around it. Your little one is only 11 months old. Just keep offering appropriate choices like very soft cooked veggies, pieces of cubed, baked sweet potato, very small pieces of cheese, etc. along with the foods that he can eat.

My daughter wouldn't even eat solids till she was 9 months old. I didn't stress about it because she was telling me what she needed and what she didn't at that time. Just like your little man is telling you what he can handle right now and what he can't. Things like pasta and toast are probably beyond him right now but that's really ok. Trick to any table food you offer him right now is tiny, tiny, tiny!

first, don't stress. :) easier said than done, but I believe -- and others at mamapedia even :) have reassured me -- kids get the nutrition they need.

second, an idea that has been passed to me to ease him to table foods, yet ensure he gets the nutrition he needs. Can you make a chicken soup -- simmering chicken, potatoes, sweet pototo, celery, carrots, pumpkin, onion, zucchini, rice, parsley (which you take out) etc....Each meal you can either mash or break into tiny pieces (depending on what stage he is at) a little chicken, starch and veggie...All the ingredients soak each other's vitamins...And it is yummy for adults as well..

.If you can serve this at one meal every day or two until the full transition to table food -- and you can feel confident that your lo is getting nutrition, learning to eat table food at his pace. You can do different varieties of soups with different nutritious ingredients.

HTH

My first question is have you tried to eat what you are giving him yourself?
I once thought I was cooking my son's food enough for him to break it down but when I tried it myself using no teeth I realized that I could not break it all the way down.
Just a thought....My son doesn't like his food warm. He prefers everything room temp or cold. He will spit out anything I put in his mouth that has been warmed.
You can also try a mechanical soft diet. This basically means that you cut things into the smallest possible bits that you can. I don't buy jarred food so I am not really sure how big the pieces in stage three food are. Yam spears are great ang easily broken down. Just throw them in the oven and cook for about 12 minutes. My son is 13 months and he loves eating friut (apricots, pears, peaches, melon, ect) all on his own. I don't cook these at all just cut them up so I can de seed/pit them and he chows them down.

I hope this help. I would be more than happy to talk off line if you have more specific questions.

My best advice - which I've probably given previously - is to let him try. He can only learn by you being willing to let him try and being there by his side to address it if something goes wrong.

The carrot issue isn't uncommon. It's like corn - I don't know why we eat them when our body isn't capable of fully digesting them.

But, at 11 months, he should be well on his way to transitioning to much more palatable foods. Our son probably had his 2 bottom teeth at that age, and we were very comfortable giving him foods to help him learn how to eat.

It can be scary, though, so make sure you're not distracted with other things and do your best to be right there with him keeping an eye on him.

Good luck!

Swallowing without chewing isn't really going to hurt him in any way as long as he's not choking. Sometimes the best thing we can do as parents is to just get out of their way and let them figure out something new for themselves. Babies are amazing kinetic learners, so just keep presenting him with the foods and he'll figure out the dynamics of chewing and swallowing the new unfamiliar textures. He just needs to get used to it is all.

And carrots are pretty much always going to be visible in his stools in one way or another, at least until he's a little older.

Best of luck!

I wouldn't stress out too much! I did with my first and then when my second child was 6 mos old her sister fed her a peanut butter sandwich half when I was doing the dishes. She ate the whole thing! Just try different things and watch him carefully as he eats. Most kids DO choke at some point (especially as they get better at eating and decide to shove a lot in!) As you try new things see what works for him. He will catch on as he tries more and gets more teeth. Don't feel like you have to rush him, but do be a little adventurous.

We fed our last child what we ate by using the slap chop (it was not called that-got it from pampered chef) As soon as she heard that chopper, she would crawl over to get in the high chair. You can get the peices small or leave a few large.

You can even chop a sandwhich and pasta this way. Once he has the taste for what you eat, and he gets more teeth, he will get it. Right now, he is in training, and some of what he is doing is chewing to learn to chew but some of it is moving food around his mouth, getting the tounge muscle used to moving food from front to back, and building the awareness and muscles he needs for speech. Don't hold back out of uneccessary fear, keep trying, and if you just need to chop it up more, do that. He'll get it, and it is more important than you realize- but not for the food he eats right now.

I would not worry one bit about the undigested stuff you find in a diaper. Just ignore that, it happens, it means nothing, and if it did, we would all be in trouble!

M.

Go buy a Pampered Chef Food Chopper and chop the heck out of the table food. I chopped at least 15 times per placement. I chopped then moved the chopper over different food and then chopped it 15 times too. It left little pieces and even if they were swallowed whole they weren't choke hazzards.